After the panel, there will be organized roundtable topics with discussion leaders to get into specific tactics and SEM strategies. In "speed dating" style, attendees will have a chance to move onto another topic they've indicated interest in during the registration process.

Meanwhile, our Search Engine Strategies conference returns to the US in August. coming to San Jose from Aug. 8-11. Basic details are available here, and a full agenda will be posted later in June. The conference features speakers from major search engines, along with experts on search marketing.

After San Jose, SES comes to Stockholm in October, and the year's tour ends in Chicago in December. Links to sites about those shows can be found via our Search Engine Strategies site.

In the UK? SES London happens tomorrow, June 1 and continues through June 2. You can still register. More information can be found at the SES London 2005 web site.

Submitting RSS Feeds To YahooMay 31, 2005 - Yahoo has been accepting RSS feeds for some time. However, it recently released a Publisher's Guide To RSS that formalizes some submission tips and procedures for feed owners. In this article, a closer look at how your RSS feed appears within Yahoo and tips on doing better.

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Recap Of New SEM ToolsMay 27, 2005 - The past few weeks have been pretty busy in terms of new search marketing tools appearing. In this article, a recap of some things that have hit my radar recently, ranging from AdWords keyword generation tools to link analysis tools to Firefox add-ons for marketers. These include GoLexa, a very cool tool for site owners. It brings back Google results and provides a ton of extra information about the pages listed. Yahoo Link Harvester uses the Yahoo API to let you find links pointing at a particular domain or individual page. You can get back up to 1,000 listings. You can then easily get WHOIS info, Alexa info, Google full cache or text-only cache copy of the domain that the link is hosted on. More on these tools and others in the story.

Yahoo Mindset Demo Allows "Intent Driven" Search Refinement May. 27, 2005 - The Yahoo Research Lab has quietly released a new demo called Mindset that allows users to dynamically rerank result pages using a "slider." Very cool and in my opinion an intuitive way for the searcher, who would never use any type of advanced search options, to quickly and easily focus their result sets. More in this post.

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Search Engine Forums SpotlightMay 27, 2005 - Links to the week's topics from search engine forums across the web: Association of American University Presses' Position On Google - Is My Site Being Hijacked? - What Happened To Google Overnight!? - Measuring PPC Success - Directories: Are They Just for SEO?, and more.

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Ask Jeeves Serves Up New FeaturesMay 26, 2005 - Ask Jeeves is rolling out two new enhancements today that help searchers quickly focus queries and get direct answers to questions without using complex commands or advanced search tools.

Diller: Ask Jeeves Might Get New Name May. 25, 2005 - Barry Diller told attendees at the D3 -- All Things Digital conference that he is considering a name change. Of course, this also assumes that the IAC/Ask Jeeves merger goes through. It probably will be "Ask." More in this post.

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Forget Google Print Copyright Infringement; Search Engines Already Infringe May. 25, 2005 - The Association of American University Presses has concerns that Google Print's digital library program may be equal to widescale copyright infringement. But that complaint, if ultimately upheld in a court case, would go far beyond print digitization. It might impact the fact that search engines already do widespread copying of content to provide the core search services we take for granted. More observations in this post.

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Introducing a New Web Search ContenderMay 24, 2005 - These days, web search is dominated by giants, and it's rare to see the emergence of a new potentially world-class search engine. Meet Exalead, a powerful search tool with features not offered by the major search engines.

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Some Publishers Not Happy With Google's Library Digitization Program May. 23, 2005 - The Association of University Publishers (about 125 scholarly publishers) have sent a letter to Google saying that the Google Library program, "appears to be built on a fundamental violation of the copyright act." More details and observations in this article.

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MSN Virtual Earth To Take On Google Earth May. 23, 2005 - Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has announced a MSN Virtual Earth service is to debut in the summer. The service is promised to provide satellite images with 45-degree-angle views of buildings and neighborhoods, images with street map overlays and the ability to add local data layers, such as showing local businesses or restaurants. Screenshots and more details in this post. Also see Microsoft's MSN Virtual Earth: The Map is the Search Platform for a great overview article that came out after the announcement.

Google News Study Finds Bias But Not Favoritism -- But Study Also Has Flaws May. 20, 2005 - A study has found that Google News results are significantly more likely to have an ideological bias than Yahoo News, though the bias will be on both ends of the spectrum. However, the study seems flawed in not accounting for how Google "clusters" results. More observations, in this article.

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Google Factory Tour Recap May. 20, 2005 - So Google's first "Google Factory Tour" has ended. Overall, I'd say it was a great success on the PR front -- at least if you weren't that familiar with Google. Most of what was said was old ground for many readers. But in this post, highlights of what seemed most interesting. There are also links to the webcast page and all the slides shown.

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Don't Disable Your Site for Handicapped UsersMay 19, 2005 - Are you designing web sites that are accessible to disabled users? If not, you're overlooking a powerful market segment of millions of searchers and potential buyers.

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Proposed Search Engine Standard For Titles & Descriptions May. 19, 2005 - It is becoming more noticeable that Google may substitute titles and descriptions from the Open Directory for its listings in place of using material from the page itself -- and that's not always to the searcher's benefit. Nor is Google alone in this type of substitution. I've posted a proposed standard that the search engines might follow. You can read more in this thread at our Search Engine Watch Forums, plus add your own comments, ideas or vote for options.

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Google My Search History Spam May. 18, 2005 - Using the Google "My Search History" feature? Turns out, there's a new way to spam it into thinking you've done searches you haven't. More in this post, which will generate an example you can view, as well.

Have RSS Feeds Read to You May. 31, 2005 - Don't feel like reading RSS feeds but would rather listen to them? A free service called Speakwire allows you to have selected RSS feeds read to you using synthesized speech technology. More details in this post.

What Happened to Google's Personalized Web Search Demo? May. 31, 2005 - When we posted an overview of Yahoo's new Mindset search tool last Friday I pointed out that access to Google's Personalized Web Search was unavailable. Well, it's about four days later and the service can still unreachable. I realize that Google Labs is a place to try new things out but it would sure be useful if Google could simply post a note saying that a service is no longer available or temporarily offline.

Jux2 Goes Offline May. 31, 2005 - Some sad news to report. Jux2, the winner of the Search Engine Watch 2004 best meta search engine award, is no longer available. Over the weekend, one of the developers of Jux2 told me that the service was originally designed to research search engine overlap (it sure was useful) and although they were thrilled and honored that many people also used it as a meta engine, the Jux2 team did not have the time, funding, and resources to keep the site running. Jux2 did have conversations with other meta engines to see if they would be interested in taking over the service but no one "stepped up." Here are two other tools you might want to check out that can help determine search engine overlap: Dogpile's "Missing Pieces" (More about this new search engine overlap tool in this SearchDay article) and Ranking.thumbshots.com (more about this in Exploring Search Engine Overlap.)

Microsoft Slams "Perfect" Google Again May. 31, 2005 - Forget the previous Microsoft party line on Google, where Microsoft admitted to being "stupid" in falling behind in the search space. Now it seems to be one of snicker at Google's success. Spotted via Search Engine Lowdown, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said during a conference last week in apparently sarcastic tones: "Google is still perfect; the bubble is floating, and they can do everything." This follows on Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer suggesting indirectly earlier this month that Google was a "one-hit wonder" that "nobody thinks can do any wrong." Google, of course, does plenty of wrong. More on that and Ballmer's remarks in my past post, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: Google "One-Hit Wonder".

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Not Just A Search Engine: 2005 Edition May. 31, 2005 - This time last year, Yahoo talked of being "more than a search engine," sending me off on giant wobble. My Return To The Sad Days Of More Than A Search Engine? article asked if we'd come full circle, with search engines deciding it was cool to be portals again. If so, would search quality slip again as last time? Google's Mission in Context from MediaPost has Google's head of travel explaining recently "we're not just a search engine" to an audience, sending writer David Berkowitz on a similar wobble on whether search engines -- and Google in particular -- are forgetting their missions. Missions? You'll find a recap of Google's and Yahoo's here from me: Missions & Visions & Actions.

Is Google Planning to Open a New Googleplex in Boston? May. 30, 2005 - According to the Boston Business Journal article: Google goggles Hub for major expansion, that the Boston area is one of four cities that Google is considering for a new Googleplex. Company representative have looked at more than 10 Boston/Cambridge locations in the past seven days. The three other cities in the running aren't listed in the article but as far as Boston goes, Google wants 75,000 sq. feet of office space with an option to expand to over 200,000 sq. feet in the next 18 months. The article goes on to mention that Google would hire up to 1,000 "mid-salary workers." The company already has a small sales office in Boston.

Meet The Google Engineers Event Next Month May. 30, 2005 - Google is having a special "Meet The Google Engineers" event in New Orleans next month, free to anyone interested. It's being held in conjunction with the WebmasterWorld Search Conference that will be happening (more on that here). However, you needn't be attending the conference to go to the Google event, Google says. Just use the Google sign-up page to reserve a spot. The event happens Wednesday, June 22 from 6pm to 8pm. There will be no presentations. Instead, Google is having tables dedicated to various topics. Which topics? That will be determined by what people say they want to discuss when registering (there's a place on the sign-up form for this). Engineers from both Google's ad side and editorial/crawling site will be participating, Google says.

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Google Press Releases Now Available Via Feed May. 30, 2005 - Spotted via Steve Rubel, Google is now issuing press release notifications via a feed. Non-feed releases are here; feed is here. Steve noted Microsoft releases were available in RSS in February. I can't recall when Yahoo added them, but they've been out there for several months, as I've long had that as a subscription. You'll find the Yahoo feed here, off the non-feed release page. FYI, the company blogs are often well in front of the formal press releases. Official search blogs from each company are listed in the blogroll on our home page.

Booting Copyright Infringers From Search Listings May. 26, 2005 - Pursuing Copyright Infringers from Scottie Claiborne over at Search Engine Guide has a nice rundown on what to do if you find pages infringing your copyright in search results. Contacting the search engines along won't get the infringing material off the web, but it will at least starve it of its search engine traffic when listings are pulled. And did you get pulled? Via Search Engine Roundtable, this WebmasterWorld thread looks at what you might do to get reincluded, as least if pulled off of Google.

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Search Marketing Trade Publication Coming May. 26, 2005 - Search marketing is looking to get its first print magazine. It will be from SYS-CON media and to be called SEM/SEO Journal. A news release has more details on the launch, to come in the second half of this year. An online site is also promised at www.SEO.sys-con.com, though that URL just resolves back to the main SYS-CON site for now.

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Take The SEO Quiz May. 25, 2005 - Rand Fiskin has created the SEO Quiz. It's fun -- give it a whirl. Then check out whether you're at the top of the leaderboard. I'm hoping Rand will make it into a monthly or weekly quiz on news. And Barry notes it's already had some spam. Want to comment on how the quiz might change? Visit our forum thread, The SEO Quiz From SEOmoz.

New Cease-And-Desist Notices Sent To Google May. 25, 2005 - Three new complaints at Chilling Effects have been posted asking Google to pull material because of defamation concerns. Links and brief info, in this post.

A Google Ad Exchange Service? Domains Suggest It Might Happen May. 24, 2005 - The Google Exchange from MarketWatch looks at the possibility of Google offering some type of advertising exchange service. In other words, beyond putting its own ads across the web, Google might also serve as an AdBrite-like ad broker for others. The article is all pure speculation, of course. A Google rep is quoted, but declined to comment on whether Google would do this. But here's some fuel for the fire in the way of domain registrations by Google. More in this post.

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Could a New Algorithm Increase Profits for Search Ad Providers? May. 23, 2005 - Phys.org has posted a news release from Georgia Tech University in Atlanta about a new computer algorithm, "that could further increase profits for search engine advertising." The research itself was motivated by a question asked of one of the researchers by Google's former Director of Research, Monika Henzinger, while he was interviewing for a job at the Googleplex last year. More details and text of the paper in this post.

Personalization for the Mobile Web Searcher May. 23, 2005 - TheFeature's Peggy Ann Salz conducts an interview with search engine personalization expert Barry Smyth about using personalization to improve the online experience of the mobile searcher by using informal communities. A few more details and links, in this post.

New From Yahoo: Guide to RSS for Publishers May. 20, 2005 - The new Yahoo Publisher's Guide to RSS will be especially useful as a one-stop shop for those just getting started with the format but can also serve as a worthwhile reference for experienced RSS types. The site includes an intro to RSS, how to create feeds with several services (not just Yahoo 360), info about submitting and promoting your feed, a link to sign-up for alerts about new services from Yahoo (RSS advertising), and more.

Three Attorneys Launch a Click Fraud Clearinghouse May. 20, 2005 - Three of the attorneys involved in the click fraud class action lawsuit mentioned last month have started a web-based clearinghouse that will contain information about the case and links to articles about click fraud. The site is called LostClicks.com. Presently, it's rather light on content but will hopefully contain more info as the case moves forward. Right now you'll find a list of recent click fraud articles and a brief backgrounder about why the case was filed.

Tweak Google Desktop Search May. 19, 2005 - I just came across a new app (freeware) from Nathan Evans that allows you to make several changes to Google Desktop Search without having to go in and edit the registry. You can move your GDS index; change the drives that GDS indexes, including mapped network drives and attached (USB/Firewire) drives - even your iPod! You can also force a manual re-indexing of your drives at any time

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Yahoo Surveying Web Searchers May. 19, 2005 - Michel from El Telendro dropped a note about a survey that Yahoo is asking random web search users to complete about the My Web beta. People who complete the survey are offered a chance to win $1000 in a monthly Yahoo sweepstakes. Michel grabbed a couple of screenshots and posted them here and here.

Blogdigger Goes Local May. 19, 2005 - Blogdigger, a blog search engine being developed by Greg Gershman, has launched a new service called Blogdigger Local that allows you to search for blog posts by geographic location. More in this post.

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Demo Some Content Based Image Retrieval Software May. 18, 2005 - A few weeks ago I blogged about content based image retrieval and listed a bunch of resources to learn more including several items from a company called LTU Technologies. At that time a content based image retrieval demo using LTU Technologies was unavailable. Good news, it's back online. More details in this post.

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SortPrice Gets Drag-And-Drop Shopping Feature May. 18, 2005 - The SortPrice shopping search engine has added a neat drag-and-drop shopping feature to its service. Do a search, then you can drag images of products you are interested in and drop them into the left-hand side of your screen, to build up an interest list. Sadly, it only seems to work in Internet Explorer.

MarketingSherpa is having its 2005 Readers' Choice Blog Awards. Like our Search Engine Watch Blog? We're not listed in category eight, "Blogs on search marketing." But after you vote for the six shown there, you can also skip down to the last question and just past Search Engine Watch Blog into the write-in box. That is, if you like us. Here's the voting form.

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